Israel Day Parade

Crisis Averted: The New York Times is reporting that several Jewish Girl Scouts wanted to march in the sunday's Israel Day Parade, and were disallowed to do so in uniform by the Scouts' national office. This was said under the rationale that the Scouts are not an 'advocacy organization' and should not take action implying support of one group over another. However - as the article points out - 'the Girl Scouts' Web site speaks glowingly of scouts' taking part in events like the St. Patrick's Day parade in March or the Cinco de Mayo Parade, also scheduled for this weekend', and it is rather difficult to make a clear distinction between political activism and just being proud of one's heritage. Although they eventually did concede and reverse their decision and this isn't a clear case of anti-semitism, or even anti-Zionism, a familiar double standard seems to be at work here. Interesting.